Brian De Palma

Dude makes two kinds of films: Quintessential De Palma films riff on and comment on filmmaking and filmmakers (usually Hitchcock), and mix high and low art with gleeful abandon. If a character is murdered as someone watches helplessly, you're watching one of those.

His first films rarely strayed from the thriller/horror genre, but you can still see his touch, and themes he would explore later — even in Sisters, a flawed but interesting low-budget early effort.

Of course, De Palma also turns out Hollywood films that don't have his thematic stamp of meta commentary and voyeurism or flashy style (split screens, other creative editing and showy camera work). Unfortunately this occasionally results in some hackwork: I really enjoyed Mission to Mars and Snake Eyes when I was 15, but I'm not sure if I would be so kind in 2011. But his craftsmanship has also produced some of the best blockbusters in recent history.

This AVClub's primer on De Palma (http://www.avclub.com/articles/brian-de-palma,52964/) put exactly what I liked about his work into words better than I can. My above comments are rooted there. He's easily the most unsung and often misunderstood filmmaker of his generation.

It seems a bit convoluted to include De Palma-De Palma films and De Palma-Hollywood films in the same list, but here we go. My ranking, with the category each falls into labeled as either D-D or D-H:

1.) Blow Out (D-D)
 This finally came out on home video this month after being essentially unavailable in the US for years. Blow Out is the rare film that improves significantly on the one that inspired it —Antonioni 's wildly over-praised '60s breakthrough Blow Up — by adding layers of plot and suspense without losing substance.
2.) Scarface (D-H)
I don't care how many MTVcribs have this poster. I don't care how many wanna-be goons butcher Pacino's already butchered "Cuban" accent. Scarface is one of the most ridiculously entertaining movies of all time.
3.) The Untouchables (D-H)
You already know why this is good. But I can't stop talking. De Palma loves movies. He fucking loves movies. And nowhere is his enthusiasm for entertainment more apparent than here. Even when it's corny, it's endearing.
4.) Mission Impossible (D-H)
And here.
5.) Casualties Of War (D-D
This Vietnam war drama allows De Palma to mix his new-found Hollywood budget and casting options, with all of his pet themes.
6.) Carlito's Way (D-H)

7.) Body Double (D-D)
His most glorious pulp-trash, it's classed up a bit with Hitchcockian craftsmanship, and more than a few nods to Vertigo.
8.) Femme Fatale (D-D)
Critics loved it or hated (more of them hated it), but it's a rock-solid neo-noir that again has a go at Vertigo and Rear Window.
9.) Dressed to Kill (D-D)
This was his second film after Carrie, and you can see him push his voyeuristic tendencies with less restraint. Dressed To Kill uses Psycho as its jumping off point, but its adherence to thriller/horror tradition creates a a few by-the-numbers plot points and reveals that aren't that revealing. It's still heads and shoulders above nearly any other horror movie from the era, and legitimately gutsy in some of its sexual content.
Sisters (D-D)

Mission to Mars (D-H)

Snake Eyes (D-H)
The Black Dahlia (D-H)


Have not seen
Carrie (this is one of those huge, embarrassing cultural blind spots. Though at a certain point, if you haven't seen Carrie by the age of 25, it's nearly pointless to do so — it's been referenced and commented on so many times that I know all of the plot and shocks without seeing it. It's ruined for me.)
Obsession
Raising Cain
The Fury
Redacted
Hi Mom!
Phantom Of The Paradise
Bonfire of the Vanities

Best Films of 2010 (yeah yeah, deduct two letter grades for being a half-year late)

I suppose this is more for my own OCD-like need to list everything than for anyone else's benefit, being that it's June already. I'm still behind on some of 2010's more lauded films, but here's my best of 2010 list ... belatedly, pointlessly.

BEST
1. The Social Network
I hate to admit it, but "the facebook movie" lived up to the hype, and then some. I'll follow director David Fincher anywhere ('cept Benjamin Button, it sucked). And Sorkin's talky script is sharp and doesn't insult its audience. Too bad Hollywood only makes a few films for adults every year ... look how good they can be. Jesse Eisenberg is terrific as the socially-inept and bitter Zuckerberg, building an empire out of spite.

2. Black Swan
3. Exit Through the Gift Shop
4. Toy Story 3
5. Blue Valentine
6. The Fighter
7. True Grit
8. Inception
9. Greenberg
10. The King's Speech (I'm not big on costume-drama Oscar bait, so I put this one off for a bit. For shame, for shame. This was pretty damn good, thanks to a witty script. I still have a hard time emphasizing with royalty. Seriously, they can all burn.)
11. Winter's Bone
12. Kick-Ass
13. The Town

GOOD

Shutter Island
The Killer Inside Me
Cyrus

JUST ABOVE AVERAGE
The Other Guys
Machete
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

MEH
Iron Man 2
Hot Tub Time Machine

STILL HAVEN'T SEEN
The Kids Are All Right (I'll probably never see this, don't care.) 
Dogtooth
A Prophet
Carlos
Mother
Rabbit Hole
Inside Job
Antichrist

Best of the year, so far

We're half way around the sun, again, folks. It's a distance that has an uncanny effect on music nerds: we feel cosmically possessed to chronicle which albums provided the best space-travel music. In order, are my favorite records of the year so far.

1. Tune-Yards "W h o k i l l"
Merrill Garbus takes a gimmick (sampling and looping her own voice) and built actual songs with killer horns, Afropop percussion, ukulele, bass and guitar to make the half-year's best and most original album.

2. Yuck "Yuck"
UK brats use equal parts Teenage Fanclub, Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. for their debut, throwing back to a decade we all wish it still was — the '90s.

3. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart "Belong"
Twee American boys and girls move from the '80s noise pop (The Jesus and Mary Chain, Black Tambourine) of their debut to make album more indebted to the Smashing Pumpkins, without losing their earnest vulnerability. Hey remember Silversun Pickups? This is better.

4. Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues"
Singer-songwriter Robin Pecknold averted a sophomore slump by ditching a whole batch of songs originally penned for this album. His band kept fans on ice with the three-year gap between records, but it was wort it — "Helplessness Blues" overflows with folk mysticism and powerful vocal harmonies.

5. Smith Westerns "Dye it Blond"
Mott the Hoople's poppy brand of glam-rock is the obvious reference point for these young Chicagoans' hazy second LP.

6. The Decemberists "King is Dead"
Portland's folk-rock institution ditches their temporary foray into concept albums and prog-rock to turn in their tightest set, finding inspiration in early R.E.M, Tom Petty and country.

7. The Antlers "Burst Apart"
Like "Hospice," the band's 2009 opus on loss and coping, "Burst Apart" is an atmospheric slow-burn built around swirling keyboards, subtle guitarwork and singer Peter Silberman's heartbreaking falsetto. It's best enjoyed with headphones.

8. Wye Oak "Civilian"



9. Toro Y Moi "Underneath the Pine"
Chazwick Bundick brings the disco-and-funk indebted dance jams via live instrumentation, largely leaving behind the synthesizers of his debut.

10. Kurt Vile "Smoke Ring For My Halo"
Scraggly singer-songwriter Kurt Vile has a knack for burrowing in over time, and is lucky to inherit the quiet sneer handed down by Bob Dylan and Lou Reed.  This record's a grower, but you'll keep coming back once the melodies reveal themselves.

11. Fucked Up "David Comes To Life"
Pink Eyes and crew turn out another set of intelligent hardcore. The new record is a concept album. Like the best concept albums, the individual songs don't collapse under the weight of the central conceit.


The best of the rest
J. Mascis "Several Shades of Why"
Radiohead "The King of Limbs"
Panda Bear "Tomboy"

Need more time
Okkervil River "I Am Very Far"
Iron & Wine "Kiss Each Other Clean"

Out soon
Black Lips "Arabia Mountain"
Cults "Cults"
My Morning Jacket "Circuital"
Bon Iver "Bon Iver"



Haven't heard yet
R.E.M. "Collapse into Now"
Ponytail "Do Whatever You Want All The Time"
TV On The Radio "Nine Types of Light"

shiny plastic things

Someone call the old news police: Jeff Koons makes me angry, and he's not doing himself any favors. Motherfucker tried to trademark the balloon dog. You can't take unArt, put quotations around it, call it Art and then claim you invented the unArt, too. I can't really think of anything more arrogant. That's like Danger Mouse suing Kanye for sampling the same song.

Koons' paintings and installations look like they were generated by the same team of manatees that splice together Family Guy's random, plot-less jokes.
Effectively commenting on, and skewering, kitsch and American culture through art relies on context. But his art relies on the insecurity of the viewer to force meaning and context, when it isn't there, just to feel like they "get it."

Unless you wear stocking caps with Anime ears, this will make you angry.

Every few months I go online and make myself sit through a few sideshows of his work, to see if my perceptions have changed. It only gets worse. Koons is the original Thierry Guetta, paying a small army of artisans to create his next empty abomination of juxtopostion.

He is as offensively shallow and uninteresting as Lady Gaga, and as cynical and commercially viable.

Who do you think is the worst "post-modern" cash whore? 

http://www.pekintimes.com/entertainment/x1651500158/Music-Best-albums-of-2010

Weekends "Totem"

I don't know if this song has anything to do with Inception's use of the word "totem" or not, because I don't know what the fuck this song is about. That doesn't stop it from being kind of perfect. And the video. Video is good.


Weekends "Totem" from Friends Records on Vimeo.

Music: Best songs of 2010 downloadable playlist

(right click any track to download, left click any song to stream entire playlist)
1. Deerhunter "Helicopter"
2. Kanye West "Power"
3. Titus Andronicus "A More Perfect Union"
4. Surfer Blood "Floating Vibes"
5. Pomegranates "Skull Cakin'"
6. Cults "Go Outside"
7. Arcade Fire "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)"
8. Black Keys "Everlasting Light"
9. Beach House "Silver Soul"
10. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti "Round and Round"
11. Sleigh Bells "Rill Rill"
12. Spoon "Written in Reverse"
13. Broken Social Scene "Water in Hell"
14. Jenny & Johnny "Scissor Runner"
15. The Morning Benders "Excuses"
16. LCD Soundsystem "Dance Yrself Clean"
17. The National "Bloodbuzz Ohio"
18. Yeasayer "Ambling Alp"
19. Girls "Carolina"
20. Avi Buffalo "Remember Last Time"
21. Teenage Fanclub "Baby Lee" 
22. The Hold Steady "The Weekenders" 
23. Harlem "Tila and I"
24. Dr. Dog "Jackie Wants a Black Eye"
25. Deerhunter "Coronado"

Music: Best of 2010

Best Albums 
(included streams/downloads aren't necessarily my favorite tracks from the records, just the ones I could find hosted online)

1. Titus Andronicus "The Monitor" A
Titus Andronicus "Four Score and Seven (Part 2)"
2. Deerhunter "Halcyon Digest" A-

Deerhunter "Revival"

3. Surfer Blood "Astro Coast" A-

Surfer Blood "Swim (To Reach the End)"

4. Beach House "Teen Dream" A-

Beach House "Norway"

5. Kanye West "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" A-

6. Black Keys "Brothers" B+
7. The Walkmen "Lisbon" B+

8. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti "Before Today" B+

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti "Round and Round"

9. Sleigh Bells "Treats" B+

Sleigh Bells "Crown on the Ground"

10. Tame Impala "Innerspeaker" B

11. Avi Buffalo "Avi Buffalo" B 
Avi Buffalo "What's in it for?"
12. LCD Soundsystem "This is Happening" B

13. Spoon "Transference" B

14. Arcade Fire "The Suburbs" B
Win is still riding on the coattails of "Funeral." Honestly, if this was anyone else do you think this record would make the top of any best-of lists?15. Teenage Fanclub "Shadows" B

Good
Warpaint "The Fool" B

Male Bonding "Nothing Hurts" B
Male Bonding "Year's Not Long"
Jaill "That's How We Burn" B
Jaill "Everyone's Hip"
The Hold Steady "Heaven is Whenever" B
The National "High Violet" B
The National "Bloodbuzz Ohio"
Dr. Dog "Shame Shame" B-

Yeasayer "Odd Blood" (the first half, at least) B-

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings "I Learned the Hard Way" B-

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings "I Learned the Hard Way"
Harlem "Hippies" B-

Wavves "King of the Beach" B-
No Age "Everything in Between" B-

No Age "Fever Dreaming"
The Vaselines "Sex with an X" B-
The Vaselines "Sex with an X"

Meh

The Morning Benders "Big Echo" B-
The Brooklyn via San Fran group led off its second album with perhaps the song of the year, "Excuses," a glorious amalgamation of glee-club harmonies, bluesy strings and soaring melodies, but then let Chris Taylor's (Grizzly Bear) production drag the following nine tracks through the tasteful, reverbed sludge that makes Taylor's outfit so damn boring. Only the occasionally fuzzed-out guitar struts through the languid, hung-over drapery, heard on the second track on the top-loaded record.
Listen (at least to "Excuses,") here:
http://www.themorningbenders.com/

She & Him "Vol. 2" C-
Everything M. Ward does deserves a listen. At a certain point, though, even if I recognize something as quality work (mostly the production and instrumentation) doesn't mean I have to like it, or force myself to listen to it on the reg. I just don't see the point of She & Him. Zooey doesn't write quite good enough songs, they are pleasant enough, but I'd rather just go dig up some old records.

Foals - Total Life Forever C

Overrated

Robyn "Body Talk Pt. 1"

Robyn is terrible and I'm tired of all these hipsters saying otherwise.
AV Club and Pitchfork readers who like Robyn, for the most part, talk shit about American pop music, meaning either A.) they would also like American pop music if it wasn't popular, or B.) force themselves to like Robyn instead because she is not a house hold name here (and therefor "cool"), and that's pathetic.
For those who like Robyn and also like American pop music, that's fine, you're honest with your tastes and I don't dislike you, I just dislike your music. 

Janelle Monae "The ArchAndroid"
I don't like modern RnB, even modern RnB with touchstones in classic soul, and thematic inspiration in Fritz Lang's dystopian masterpiece Metropolis. Janelle's got style, enthusiasm and a fantastic stage presence, but I find her voice thin, her melodies less-than-memorable and the production sterile. I'll pass. Give me Sharon Jones any day.

Best Coast "Crazy for You"
At first I thought, 'maybe there is more to this if I keep listening.' After several spins, the melodies were finally in my head and I liked her voice, so I posted a stream of the album on this site, and kept listening, hoping I would form some sort of summer bond with the record. Shortly after that near honeymoon, it hit me that, nope, there is nothing more and my first instinct was absolutely correct. She sings about her cat, getting high, and boys. There's nothing here to warrant multiple listens, praise or scorn. It's jangly pop, and it's borrrrrrring as fuck.

Disappointments

Vampire Weekend "Contra" C
I think yr a contra. NO! yr a contra ... this album stinks.

Wolf Parade "Expo 86" C
Broken Bells "Broken Bells" C-
M.I.A. "Maya"
The Thermals "Personal Life" C-

Like, but haven't listened to enough of yet

Gorillaz "Plastic Beach"
Pomegrantes "One of Us"
Dum Dum Girls "I Will Be"
Broken Social Scene "Forgiveness Rock Record"
The Tallest Man on Earth "The Wild Hunt"

Did not hear

New Pornographers "Together"
Band of Horses "Infinite Arms"
MGMT "Congratulations"
Joanna Newsom "Have One on Me"
... and thousands more

Shitlist:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/music/ref=pd_ts_nav

New MS PAINT collage. I made this a couple weeks ago and forgot to post.

Album review: Warpaint "The Fool"

http://www.pekintimes.com/entertainment/x1615400356/Album-review-Warpaint-The-Fool

FREE MP3 Download: Tennis "Marathon"

File under: Rich kids continue to make beautiful music on vintage equipment, expensive drugs.

Tennis' retro-minded debut on Fat Possum, "Cape Dory," is out Jan. 18.
Check out the ridiculous album art, left.

Via Gorillavsbear.net


Tennis "Marathon"

FREE MP3 Download: Girls "Heartbreaker"

It was about this time last year when Girls delivered the full-length debut, "Album." It's Oct. 2010 already, and the duo have recorded some new songs for us, just in time for hoodies and and the other warm comforts of fall.

Girl's principle singer/songwriter Christopher Owens writes with an undisguised melancholy, buoyed by the florid jangle of a Rickenbacker.

His autumnal songs have the gift of taking seemingly blase statements and, thanks to his effortlessly affective singing voice, turns them into something deeply personal and resonant.

The new track is no different. The small details of everyday life, peppered throughout the verses add credence to Owens' recounting of a failed relationship. In the hands of anyone else, the chorus of "Heartbreaker" would sound downright maudlin or even adolescent — "When I said that I love you honey, I knew that you'd break my heart."

Even as the bass line strays dangerously close to that of their second breakout single, "Lust For Life," Owens can't help but be a singular, original talent. Thanks for another good October.

"Heartbreaker" appears on Girls new 6-song EP, "Broken Dreams Club," out on True Panther on Nov. 22.

Free stream: Warpaint "The Fool"

Listen to the debut LP by the much-hyped Warpaint, a full week before it's released, here:

http://hypem.com/search/warpaint

Album Review: The Thermals "Personal Life"

http://www.pekintimes.com/entertainment/x1547940672/Album-review-The-Thermals-Personal-Life

FREE MP3 download: Cymbals Eat Guitars

Long Island upstarts Cymbals Eat Guitars are currently working on a new album. They played four songs from the upcoming record live in a BBC radio station, those recordings are available here for download (or to stream, left click):

Cymbals Eat Guitars "Wavelengths"

Cymbals Eat Guitars "Plain Clothes"

Cymbals Eat Guitars "Definite Darkness"

Cymbals Eat Guitars "Tunguska"

Free stream: Sufjan Stevens "The Age of Adz"

Sufjan Steven's new full-lengh "The Age of Adz" is streaming in its entireity over at NPR:

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=130049247&m=130076387 

"The Age of Adz" is out Oct. 12 on Asthmatic Kitty Records. 

Book learnin'

Education makes you miserable. And I'm not even talking about some fancy-pants Ivy League — just some horrendously discouraging public education and then a mid-tier Midwestern university will do the trick —or even a library card. I suppose that's better than being scared — scared of gays, immigrants, wardrobe malfunctions, and Kenyan-Socialist Nazi Islamists and child predators sneaking into playgrounds.

Instead, havin' been eja-cated and such, I can't turn on the TV without thinking about some theory of Neil Postman's. I can't watch even a seemingly innocuous television program without sensing an "assault" of implications and consumerist subversion that soon leads to rants and high blood pressure.

During my daily commute accross the Illinois River, I can't help but think of all the literal shit that flows directly into the water every time it storms. I can't help but think of the pending lawsuit against the power plant on the river that spews it's angel-of-death pattern over the city. And the fact that, as it shortens the locals' lifespans, the electricity is sent to homes in sanitized Chicagoland 'burbs. As I step out of my car and whiff what swirls and combines with the other industrial waste, it's hard to breath without smelling the ripe scent of particulate matter.
I just love the smell of sulfer in the morning.

Then lunch — even if the beef in my food is from the grocery store, I know it contains parts of several different unhealthy cows that were sustained with feed they should never have been eating. I know every part of my meal was likely flown or trucked to Illinois from far away and that I am just another wasteful piece of shit that ruined the planet for a taco. The more you know, the less you wish you did.

Fuck you, college; I'm no smarter or happier but I know how to use a semicolon.

Wasted Postage: Reports from the Netflix Theater

The Third Man (1949)

The Third Man seems to be regarded as film noir by default only, as if it's simply the most convenient way to discuss the film. Of course it's always been a loose genre descriptor, and The Third Man fulfills plenty of the requirements — murder, intrigue, a mysterious woman and sharp, if not particularly hard-boiled dialogue. But the famous score, performed on a zither, tends to work against the cynical nature of the film, lightening the dark corners and shadows particular to the genre, often lending a more lighthearted feel, full of smirk and humor. The darkest, and most interesting element is the setting. Pulp novelist Holly Martins (played by Joseph Cotton) is drawn to post-war Vienna to meet a friend, Harry Lime, who promises work in the crumbled city. Vienna's bombed-out buildings are never too far off screen, lending an added weariness to the otherwise fast-paced mystery.

After the long flight in from the states, Holly arrives at Harry's apartment only to learn that his friend was struck and killed by a car the day before. The death was deemed an accident, but as soon as Holly starts asking questions, he learns of Harry's black-market entanglements and circle of bizarre friends who were present the day of the incident. Holly is now the main character in a suspense story seemingly ripped from one of his own adventure novels, and he intends to write the ending.

Allied-occupied Vienna is interesting for a reason beyond the bullet holes — it was divided into four regions following WW2 — United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and France, with all four bureaucracies and police departments butting heads and created even more difficulties as Holly tries to protect Harry's former lover, and crack the case. Orson Welles doesn't appear until just passed the midway mark, and does so with a wink and smile. His charismatic supporting role carries the film past the somewhat predictable twist, through a beautifully-staged climax in a massive sewer system and towards the inevitable conclusion. British director Carol Reed employs lot of off-angle and skewered shots, and the film is often incorrectly and casually attributed to Orson Welles. It has been ranked as the best British film of the 20th century, and it won some Oscars and the Grand Prix at the Cannes in 1949. I liked it a bit less than the hype, but it's good none-the-less. A-

Wasted Postage: Reports from the Netflix Theater

Kick-Ass (2010)
I always wanted to see a dark, R-rated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles — Leo actually uses his weapons to efficiently separate goons from their arms and legs, Donatello's bo breaks bones and Raph's sais are as sharp as his attitude. Like the comic books that inspired the source material, Kick-Ass indulges in the blood that a superhero would actually let — weapons don't always hit a magical "off switch" on the back of the bad guy's heads like in most comic book film adaptations — they do mortal damage. Simply put: this is a surprisingly violent fucking movie, and despite how real the blood and guts are, it's still pure fantasy. Sometimes that blood lust can be a little disconcerting when the bodily harm is inflicted by a martially trained 11-year-old girl, giddily using the identity "Hit Girl." Her father (Nic Cage in full-ham mode) is "Big Daddy," a batman-with-guns vigilante out to settle the score with NY's biggest crime boss, who's son (Christopher "McLovin" Mintz-Plasse) happens to be another budding superhero and unlikely heir apparent to the crime throne.

Meanwhile, high school comic nerd Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) buys a green wetsuit, yellow gloves and two batons to become "Kick-Ass," an untrained superhero wannabe with more "naivety and optimism" than strength or cunning. But, after one merciless beat-down, he becomes an internet sensation via a cellphone video of him defending a victim against three muggers. That notoriety makes him the prime target for said NY crime boss, who confuses Kick-Ass's burgeoning celebrity for the real Mongolians in his system — Big Daddy and Hit Girl. Lizewski's voice-over narration provides both snarky meta-commentary on the genre, and insight into the film's other major plot points in the high school sex-comedy realm. Eventually, all the major player's plot lines cross paths, with hyper-bloody showdowns resulting. The action scenes are exceptionally well choreographed, especially Big Daddy's magnificent warehouse slaughter-fest, mostly taken in one long and graceful shot. Even Kick-Ass's more ridiculous moments work, thanks to the self-aware and often satirical tone, that still reveal a love and reverence for comic book tropes and lore. I'm looking forward to the sequel. B+

Transformers: Rise of the Fallen (2009)
Growing up, did you ever go to a new friend's house, only to discover that the entire family talks to each other like a bunch of a retarded 10-year-olds? Every comment/question/statement shared between family members is stated in an argumentative near-shout, with inane responses and grating tone of voice the apparent norm, where just asking to pass the salt is shouted like a toddler in need of a nap? Watching "Transformers: Rise of the Fallen" places the viewer in the same uncomfortable territory. I was climbing a mountain of the worst in American culture — the most crass, consumerist, oblivious and unfunny people in the world, all trapped together for an excruciating two-plus hours.
My Everest-like climb to finish the latest Transformers film ended like every Sherpa-less traveler up the mountain — nauseous, weak and defeated. After three attempts over two days to make it through the film — the first aided by beer, the second with ibuprofen to fend off the on-setting headache, and the third by wine — I failed. The awful, ugly spectacle that is Transformers 2 literally frustrated me to to the point of feeling ill. The domestic-life scenes counting for comedy, the unwatchable, epileptically edited action scenes, minstrel-show robots .... I quit ... it's so fucking shitty I can't even form full sentences. This movie makes me hate everything. F

This Film is Not Yet Rated (2006) 
This documentary explores the MPAA's irrational and puritanical ratings board. Filmmakers document the history of the board and then attempt to unmask its secret members whose identity is a tightly held secret. I'm not kidding, the faceless censors who arbitrarily tell filmmakers to cut what they feel is obscene from art hide behind a veil of anonymity so thick it's comical. The film drags at points when following the PIs hired for the task, but really excels when showing how the system is favored for Hollywood pictures, works against indies and is one of the more insidious censorship bodies in the country — from working for war propaganda — to how scared it is of homosexuality and other sexual equality issues. The most glaring is how terrified it is of women actually receiving pleasure in a sex scene (and not just the man) — one film was deemed obscene because, in a mostly clothed sex scene, the camera lingered on a woman's face too long as she reached climax. Also of note: the ratings board's Washington connections, founder and long-time president Jack Valenti was a political insider and consultant for years before heading to Hollywood to begin censoring. Every cinefile should watch this documentary. A-


Terminator Salvation (2009) 
Terminator: Salvation has a giant budget and the corresponding preference for big business over genre thrills. The latest and worst Terminator film blandly scrubs away any of the horror grime of the first film, the suspense of the second and the nihilism of the third, and trudges through the motions as an overly predictable and generic sci-fi action snoozer. How do you fuck up a movie where humans battle robots? Hire McG and whittle it down to a PG-13 rating. I miss the fucking the '80s. C-

You lazy, cheap, good for nothin' trixters

Hear the new Deerhunter in its entirety, streaming thanks to those do-gooders and passive whisperers at NPR:

Deerhunter "Halcyon Digest"
Out Sept. 28 on 4AD


http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129866612&m=129870848